Sectional surface drain conduit



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Oct. 2, 1945. F. s. WENDELKEN u SECTIONAL SURFACE DRAIN CONDUIT lFiled May 17, 1943 H Ism Hull Oct.- 2, 1945. F. s. wENDl-:LKEN

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JIVnLI ATTO/VEY Patented ct. 2, 1945 2,386,020 sEc'rroNAL SURFACE DRAIN coNDUrr Frederick S. Wendelken, Denver, Colo., assigner to Frederick K. Wendelken, Denver, Colo.

Application May 17, 1943, Serial No. 487,213

2 Claims. (Cl. 94-33) This invention relates to drains for the collection and removal of surface Water from airport runways and aprons, highways, and the like, and has as an object the provision of an improved drain construction, of sectional, conduit type,

particularly adapted for such purpose.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved construction forl sectional conduit elements adapted forinterrelation to form a continuous drain adapted to either marginally parallel or longitudinally intersect highways and airport runways and aprons for the collection and Vremoval of surface water therefrom.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved construction for sectional conduit elements adapted to interlock in the formation of continuous drains susceptible of association with surfaced strips and areas for the collection and removall of surface water therefrom.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved sectional conduit element construction susceptible of development in Various related sizes for assembly as complete surface drainage systems fitted to the specific needs of given surfaced installations.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved sectional conduit element construction susceptible of development in preformed units arranged for interlocking assembly to form drainage systems of such capacity and incorporating such sand traps and cross connections as may be necessary in a given installation.

A further object of the invention is to provide 1 an improved construction and arrangement of preformed hase and' cover sections adapted to interlook in cooperating, end-abutting relation, without the use of ties, clamps, or other connections, to form a continuous drain adapted to receive, collect and remove surface water from adjacent areas.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved sectional surface drain conduit which is convenient and inexpensive of manufacture and installation, which permits of ready access to any section of its length for cleaning and maintenance, which provides inlets for surface water at uniformly and closely spaced intervals such'as will preclude undesirable accumulation of surface water on the areas to be drained, and which is adapted for recovery from one location and renstallation with a minimum of effort and full salvage value.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of elements hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims, and

.illustrated by the accompanying drawings. in

which- Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view. partly in section, of a typical drain constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention and as installed marginally along a surfaced strip or area in cooperation with a typical subdrain. Figure 2 is a side elevation of a typical drain developed from the sectional elements comprised in the invention to incorporate a sand trap. Figure 3 is a top plan view of the showing of Figure 2. .Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 2 illustrating the convenient removabilityof cover elements to permit access to the interior of the drain and sand trap. Figure 5 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on the indicated line 5-5 of Figure 3. Figure 6 is a plan view of the assembled base elements of Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5 with the cover elements omitted. Figure 'l is a transverse longitudinal section taken on the indicated line l--l of Figure 5. vFigure 8 is a cross section, on an enlarged scale, taken on the indicated line 8-8 of Figure 5. Figure 9 is a side elevation of a typical conduit base element.

Figure 10 is a top plan view of theshowing of Figure 9. Figure 11 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on the indicated line l l--I l of Figure 10. Figure 12 is a side elevation of a typical conduit cover element. Figure 13 is a top plan view of the showing of Figure 12. Figure 14 is a longitudina1 vertical section taken on the indicated line lll- I4 of Figure 13. Figure 15 is a perspective view of the base element shown in Figures 9, 10 and 11. Figure 16 is a perspective view of a structurally modied cover element functionally similar to that shown in Figures 12, 13V and 14. Figure 17 is a perspective view of the showing of Figure 16 as inverted. Figure 18 is a cross section,v on an enlarged scale, of a conduit assembly proportioned for sub-surface cross connection between standard surface drain installations. Figures 19, 19a, 19h and 19e are typical cross sections through drain conduits of differing capacities illustrating the development of such drains from like cover elements associated with base elements of varying depths.

The development and extensive use of relatively large, surfaced areas exposed to the weather, such as modern highways, airport landing strips; airport aprons, and the like, has accentuated the need for suitable means, other than open gutters, for the reception, collection and removal of surface water from such areas, and theinstant inventon is directed to the provision ofsuch means in novel, practical and advantageous fform.

As 1S clearly shown in the drawings,- the improved drain conduit is of sectional type and isy designed for assembly as an operative unit in the desired relation with a surfaced area from a supply of suitably-sized, preformed vcover and base elements arranged to interlock for the production of a continuous, covered pipe or gutter which functions as a usable part or extension of the surfaced area, and is provided with inlets wherethrough surface water from such area may enter for collection within and removal through the assembly. The cover and base elements of the improvement may be formed in any convenient or desired manner from any suitable material, but are preferably, for reasons of economy and convenience, cast or moulded as heavy-walled units from concrete, cement, mortars, and like initiallyplastic materials, in such sizes, weights, and relative proportions as will meet the strength and capacity requirements of a given installation. The preformed cover and base elements may be reinforced by means of metal bars, lattice, mesh suitably embedded therein at the time of their fabrication, as is'common practice, such structural details in themselves forming no part of the present invention, and it is within the contemplation of this disclosure that said cover and base elements may themselves be formed of metal,- vitreous materials, clays, and the like.

Whatever be their specific material or method of manufacture, size, or relative proportions, the base elements of the improvement are alike in that each of said elements is in the form of an integral, longitudinally-channeled block A, U- shaped in cross section, whereof the side walls rise in spaced, parallel relation perpendicularly from the opposite long margins of a at bottom web 26 to define with their uppermost free margins a plane parallel with that of said base web. The blocks A adapted to cooperate in a given drain conduit assembly may vary in depth of their side walls 25, as hereinafter described, but are of the same widths and wall thicknesses, and are of equal lengths, save for the terminal half blocks hereinafter to be described, ends of said blocks being formed as planes perpendicular to the side walls 25 and base web 26, so that successive blocks may engage in end-abutting relation to form a straight, longitudinally-continuous, upwardlyopening trough of uniform width and coplanar upper margins. The upper margin of each block side wall 25 is interrupted intermediate its ends by a downwardly-directed offset or notch of considerable longitudinal extent equal to perhaps onehalf the length of the block and equally spaced between the block ends, which notch defines abearing face 21 on the intermediate portion of each-side wall upper margin parallel with and offset somewhat below the plane of the adjacent side wall portion upper margins and end walls or shoulders 28 perpendicular to said bearing face and side wall upper margin planes. The notches interrupting the sidewall upper margins of each ,block A in a, given assembly are of equal length and depth, and each shoulder 28 at the ends of said notches is formed with a at face inclined atan angle withthe block side wallfaces to provide a bevel. lThe angular inclination of the faces of the shoulders 28, relative to the block side wall faces, may be of such degree as is deemed convenient or feasible within a practical range of perhaps from forty-five to sixty degrees, and the direction of such inclination is immaterial, so long as the inclined shoulder faces in each block are arranged and interrelated in the following manfner. To accomplish the purposes of theinvention, the inclined shoulder faces defining the opposite ends of each block side wall notch are disposed in non-parallel, oppositely-inclined relation and tend to converge laterally of the block so that the notch limited thereby opens through one face of its block side wall as an area longer than that provided by the notch intersection with the other face of said side wall, and the respective side wall notches are disposed in opposed relation of their inclined shoulder faces so that corresponding sides of the spaced notches, either longer or shorter as the case may be, are adjacent, diagonally-opposite shoulder faces are parallel, and the shoulder faces kin each pair at a corresponding end of the block tend to converge longitudinally and inwardly of the block. As shown in the' drawings, particularly in Figures 6, 11, and 15, the shoulder faces are each inclined from outer to innerface of their respective side walls along lines which, when projected inwardly of the block, pass through the open block ends, though it is within the contemplation of the invention that the shoulder face inclination might be reversed so that the inwardly-projected lines of said faces would intersect centrally of the block. Whatever be the degree or direction of shoulder face inclination, such shoulder face characteristics as may be adopted are adhered to uniformly throughout the base blocks of a given installation and hence provide that successive blocks may be end-engaged without the necessity for longitudinal reversal of any block to provide a repetitious, uniform pattern of similarly-disposed notches intersecting the upper margins of the block series. To facilitate handling of the blocks A, which may be of considerable weight in the larger sizes, and to provide convenient means for locating said blocks in end-abutting succession within a trench, the opposite ends of the block bottom webs 26 are formed with laterally-extended recesses 29 perpendicularly intersecting their midportions, which recesses provide space wherethrough lifting hooks or grapples may engage from above with the block bottom webs for manipulation, lifting and placing 'of the so-engaged'block without interference with adjacent or previously placed blocks. When a series of blocks A are disposed in end-engagement, as shownin Figures 6 and 7, adjacent recesses 29 of each pair of engaged blocks cooperate to form a laterally-elongated opening through the conduit y bottom, which opening may be filled with grout, or the like, after the conduit installation has been suitably aligned and brought to grade. If desired. the blocksA may be formed with paired, laterallyaligned holes 30 adjacent each of the block ends somewhat above the bottom web 26, which holes provide means for the insertion of bars transversely through the block for use in lifting and moving the unit. l

The cover elements of the improvement are in the formcf integral caps B, preferably formed of the same material and in the same manner as the blocks A, adapted for super-position on and in interlocking relation with an aligned series of blocks A. Each of the caps B is formed as a sha1- low, channeled'unit having a top web 3| of a length and width equal .to the corresponding dimensions of the bottom web 26,and` spaced, parallel, marginal side flanges-.32 perpendicularly related to the top web 3| and of a length and thickness corresponding with the like dimensions of the base block side walls 25. The side anges 32 may project beyond the top web 3I a distance equal only to the depth of the notches formed in the blocl side wall upper margins, as shown in lFigure 117, but said flanges preferably have a somewhat greater projection to at all points provide a marginal rib along each side of said top web. The side flanges 32 of each cap B are intersected by notches similar to those in the side walls of the blocks A, said flange notches being of the same depth as the block wall notches, presenting straight, plane bearing surfaces 33 offset from and in a plane parallel with the plane common to the side flange margins and adapted 'to seat on and bear against upper margins of the block wall'end portions that project above the block wall notches, and having such length as to embrace and closely engage about the complementary, paired, upwardly-projecting side wall end portions of end-engaging aligned blocks A. 'I'he notches of the cap side flanges are limited in length by shoulders 34 perpendicular to the plane of their bearing surfaces 33, and the faces'of said shoulders are disposed at such an angle of inclination relative to the flange side faces as will cause said faces' of the shoulders 3d to register with and bear in aligned parallelism against the corresponding faces of the block shoulders 28 when the caps B and blocks A are rela-ted as shown and hereinafter described to form a closed conduit. Thus, whatever be the degree and direction of inclination of the faces of the shoulders 28, the faces of the shoulders34 will have the same degree and the opposite direction of inclination. The lengths of the caps B being uniform in a. given installation and equal to the uniform lengths of the blocks A,'and the notches of the cap side flanges being positioned centrally of said flanges and of such lengths as to telescope closely over a pair of the upwardly-projecting block side wall end portions when adjacent blocks are aligned in end engagement, it follows thatY each cap B will bridge across the joint between a pair of end-engaged blocks and extend at its ends to the transverse center line of the blocks so bridged, the downwardly-extending side flange end portions of unnotched depth each engaging within and filling one-half of one of the block side wall notches, the said caps being thus arranged for successive alignment in end-abutting relation as a, cover closing over and interlocking "with an aligned series of blocks A.

The top webs 3| of the caps B are formed to such thickness, or are so reinforced, as to permit of transverse concaving of the web top surface without weakening of said cap web beyond its capacity to sustain the estimated probable load which may be imposed thereon, and the concaving of said web upper surface is of such degree as to provide a wide, shallow channel longitudinally and symmetrically of each cap upper surface, which channels of successively-aligned cap members cooperate to form a` shallow gutter into which surface water may drain laterally and from either side of the cap. Each end of the cap webs 3l is formed with a laterally-extended recess 35 perpendicularly intersecting and opening endwise from said web, which recesses of endabutted caps cooperate to form a symmetricallydisposed, laterally-extended opening communieating' through the otherwise continuous gutter formed by the cap top surfaces and with the trough formed by the aligned blocks A, through which openings, uniformly spaced along the length of the conduit assembly, Water accumu-v lated in the channels of the cap webs may drain into said trough. As was set forth in connection with the description of the base block 29, the recesses 35 provide means for the engagement of lifting hooks, grapples, and the like, with the caps B in such manner as to facilitate lifting, manipulating, and placing of said caps in the desired end engagement with each other and in the desired covering and interlocking relation with the associated blocks A. The opposite ends of the caps B being identical, it follows that said caps require no reversal of longitudinal disposition to fit them in cooperating relation with their base block assembly, and, due to the angular construction and directional relationship of the faces of the cooperating shoulders 28 and 34, each cap member is so engaged with its associated block members as to be firmly held against both lateral and longitudinal displacement relative to the latter.

In a given installation, al1 of the caps B will be of like construction and dimensions, the length and width of the cap units corresponding Y with like dimensions of the blocks A with which they are associated, so that a, series of said caps may be placed, without cutting, working, or special tting thereof, in end-engaging alignment and in covering relation with an aligned series of blocks A to complete a closed conduit whereof the top surface presents a shallow, longitudinal channel communicating at regularly-spaced intervals with the interior of the conduit, transverse joints between the blocks A and between the caps B being staggered longitudinally o-f the conduit and the said blocks and caps interlocking to inhibit lateral and longitudinal relative displacement of the separate elements constituting the assembly. Since each cap B covers one-half of each of two end-abutted blocks A, a suitable number of preformed half blocks and half caps is provided for use ,1st the ends of the conduit assembly, thus facilitating coplanar registration of the cap and block end faces terminating thecondut assembly.

As is illustrated in Figures 19, 19a, 19h and 19o, the blocks A may be preformed as units of varying depth and of uniform widths, lengths, wall thickness and side wall upper margin conformation, so that the block units will all, .regardless of their depths, cooperate with identical caps B when aligned with their side wall margins in a commonplane. 'I'his arrangement not only enhances the convenience of developing drains of different capacities in association with a given surfaced area, while maintaining uniformity of drain and trench widths, but provides particu-- upper margins of saidblocks coplanar. Further,

through the placing of two contiguous blocks of greater depth in operative alignment with a series of blocks of lesser depth, a downwardly-offset basin may be provided where desired along a given drain, which basin functions as a trap to collect and hold sand, soil, and non-oatable debris Where'it may be conveniently reached for removal through the opening left whenthe cap B covering the meeting joint between the blocks of greater depth is lifted away, and is clearly4 shown in Figure 4. When blocks of greater depth are abutted against blocks of lesser depth, either for increase of drain capacity or for the development of a sand trap, it is desirable that a suitable wall or baille 36, preferably of masonry, be disposed beneath the block of lesser depth and in closing relation across the end opening of the block of greater-depth which is below and in non-communicating relation with the conduit channel. As will be apparent, the use of blocks A of varying depths facilitates the development of a system of intercommunicating drains wherein conduits of lesser capacities connect with and for discharge into conduits of greater capacities. f When and where it may be desired to dispose a lateralor cross drain in sub-surface, connecting relation with one or more of the surfaceinterrupting drains, a preformed block and cap arrangementof the type shown in Figure 18 may be employed to advantage to provide a capacity equal to or greater than that of the drain or drains with which it connects.` 'I'he construction and operative relationship of the' elements shown in Figure 18 is identical with that of the blocks A and caps B hereinabove described, the only differences being in size and proportion. 'I'he block A' of the cross drain is made wider and shallower than the like elements of the drain with which it connects so as to present a crosssectional flow area equal to or greater than that of the associated drain, thus permitting disposition of the connected drains with their base webs at the same level and the top surface of the cross drain lower than that of the associated drain for sub-surface traverse beneath the surfaced area or adiacent ground level. The cap B' of the cross drain is formed to a width equaling that of its associated base and may presentI a flat, rather than a longitudinally channeled top surface, since the channel serves no purpose when the drain is buried, though economy in number and use of moulding forms may be had in some in'- stances by including the channel feature in the cap B', as shown in the drawing. l

As is shown in Figure 1, the improved surface drain conduit may be combined with and developed on and in superposed relation with subsoil drains of conventional type. it being feasible and convenient to provide a drain trench initial-` ly deeper than isv required for the surface-type drain and partially fill said trench, to the base level of the sectional drain, with gravel, crushed rock, or the like; to form a French drain 3'!v wherein may or may not be embedded a line of drain tile 38, as is common practice. In certain installations, no occasion for sub-soil drainage will be found, in which case the bases of the blocks A will rest directly` on the bottom of the trench.

Obviously, the number of sectional'flow conduits and the flow capacities of such conduits will be proportioned to the surface drainage requirements of the area or areas .to be servedthereby, and said conduits maybe developed in surface-flush relation with and along the mar` gins of highways, airport runways, and other strips, between thesurfa'ced areasandl adjacent shoulders, or may be disposed in longitudinallyintersecting relation with the surfaced areas to provide onexor a plurality of drains, as may be longitudinally-opening recesses centrally interrequired, the surfacebf the properly installed drain presenting no obstructional hazard and being adapted to receive and support rolling loads for free passage thereover.

Since many changes, variations and modifications in the construction, arrangement and spe ciilc combination of the elements shown and described may be had without departing from the Spirit of my invention. I Wish to be understood as being limited solely by the scope of the ap pended claims, rather than by any details of the illustrative showing and foregoing description.

I claim as my invention:

l. In a sectional surface drain conduit, a series of like, uninterruptedly open-sided base blocks adapted for alignment in end-abutted relation to form an open-top trough, each of said blocks comprising an integral, preformed unit including a plane bottom web, side walls upstanding in spaced, parallel relation from thc opposite long margins of said web for disposition of their free upper margins in a common plane parallel with said web, a notch opening up` wardlyy through the central portion of ea'ch side wall upper margin, shoulders perpendicular .to the plane of said web defining the ends of each said notch, and faces on said shoulders inclined .to the planes of the side wall surfaces so that the said shoulder faces of each notch converge laterally of the block kand in a direction opposite to the convergence of the corresponding faces of the opposed notch; and cap element arranged to interlock against relative lateral and longitudinal displacement with aligned notched block side walls in bridging relation with the joint between adjacent blocks and in convering rela.- tion with the trough formed by said blocks.

2. In a sectional surface drain conduit, a. sei ries of like, uninterruptediy open-sided base blocks adapted for alignment in end-abutted .relation to form an open-top trough, each of said blocks comprising an integral, preformed unit including a plane bottom web formed with secting 'its opposite ends for the accommodation of block placing 'and manipulating means, side walls upstanding in spaced, parallel relation from the opposite long margins of said web for disposition of their free upper margins in a common plane parallel with said web, notches intersecting central`portions of the side wall upper margins and each opening upwardly between limiting shoulders perpendicular to the plane of said web, oppositelyinclined faces on the shoulders ofl each notch arranged in opposition to the corresponding faces of the opposite notch; and cap elements arranged to interlock against relative lateral and longitudinal displacement with said notched block side walls in'covering relation with said trough.

FREDERICK S. WENDELKEN. 

